"Strange move" - Portsmouth FC bid for Rotherham United player questioned | OneFootball

The Championship side are said to have had an offer accepted for Cohen Bramall

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Portsmouth FC have been linked with a move for Rotherham United full-back Cohen Bramall this week, with Football Insider claiming that the Millers have accepted an offer from the current League One Champions.

The update from Fratton Park may have turned a few heads with the 28-year-old only starting five League One games all season for Steve Evans’ side, having been part of the squad that finished rock-bottom of the Championship in the last campaign.

With a lack of options at the back, the though is that the former Arsenal youngster will be brought in to provide backup for the remainder of the campaign, while Jacob Farrell continues to recover from a serious knee injury.

With the jury out on the potential transfer, we spoke to Football League World’s resident Pompey fan Miltos Ioannidis to get the lowdown from Frogmore Road.

Portsmouth's Cohen Bramall pursuit comes under scrutiny

While Bramall has been a player who has played 75 times in the Championship over the course of his career, the defender has fallen out of favour at the New York City Stadium of late, with just 802 minutes of League One action all season.

Therefore, the decision for Pompey to be pursuing a move before the February 3 deadline is a perplexing one for Ioannidis, who can only assume the move is something of a stop-gap to act as cover while times are tough at Fratton Park.

With Regan Poole, Ibane Bowat, Conor Shaughnessy and Farrell also out for differing amounts of time, John Mousinho has been up against it in terms of having a fit and healthy backline, as well as backup options, which is the only reason that the Pompey fan can see the Bramall move going ahead.

When asked about the situation regarding the Rotherham defender, Ioannidis said: “I think it is a pretty strange move, I can only imagine that he is coming as a short-term option as a backup in case something happens to Connor Ogilvie, so maybe something like a six-month contract.

“It is a surprising move considering he hasn’t played a huge amount of football and is a bit-part player for Rotherham. It is a strange move, I partly understand the logic behind it, but I would be hugely shocked if it was something longer than six months, something longer term.

“But, certainly left-back is a position that Pompey need to strengthen in, because currently we only have Connor Ogilvie really who is available to play with Jacob Farrell out for the season.

“So left back is definitely somewhere that Pompey needed to strengthen, it is surprising that they are doing it in this way, but I partially I understand the logic behind it, so hopefully it turns out good for Pompey.”

Jacob Farrell setback adds to John Mousinho injury concerns

Bramall looks likely to be added to the Portsmouth squad in the coming days after the news that Farrell has suffered a setback in his return from a serious knee injury he suffered in a training session days after making debut back in September.

As a result, he has featured just once for Pompey this season, and while hopes were rising that the defender would be able to return to action as we headed into 2025, an update from Mousinho at the start of the month soon put paid to those thoughts.

"Jacob has unfortunately had a bit of a setback as he's opened up his MCL again so we're looking at options in terms of what we do," Portsmouth head coach John Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent.

"He saw a specialist earlier this week - it's the same injury and we're gutted for Jacob as he was back and close."

"We don't have a lot of information yet but if we go down the route of surgery we have to make sure when he comes back he's fully fit off the back of it.”

With luck deserting them once again, Pompey need reinforcements at the back for the remainder of the campaign, and Bramall could well be a useful option when called upon over the next few months, with all hands on deck to try and fend off an immediate return to the third tier.